Podcasts about kiri masters

On this bonus episode of Unpacking the Digital Shelf you will hear the recap of each day of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity as Lauren Livak Gilbert sits down with Colin lewis & Kiri Masters each day to summarize the themes.

Quick show today from France as Kiri Masters and Lauren Livak Gilbert send Scotty O a little update from the south of france at the big Canne Lions Creativity Show. You won't hear any recap quite like this one.Some great take aways along with giving Scotty O a hard time about AI. Enjoy Always Off Brand is always a Laugh & Learn!       FEEDSPOT TOP 10 Retail Podcast! https://podcast.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/?feedid=5770554&_src=f2_featured_email   Kiri Masters https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiri-masters/ Website: https://www.retailmediabreakfastclub.com/ Lauren Livak Gilbert  https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenlivak/ Website: https://www.digitalshelfinstitute.org/ Quickfire Podcast Network Shows: Brain Driven Brands  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SarahLevinger Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brain-driven-brands/id1752169629   QUICKFIRE Info:   Website: https://www.quickfirenow.com/ Email the Show: info@quickfirenow.com  Talk to us on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quickfireproductions Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quickfire__/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@quickfiremarketing LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/company/quickfire-productions-llc/about/ Sports podcast Scott has been doing since 2017, Scott & Tim Sports Show part of Somethin About Nothin:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/somethin-about-nothin/id1306950451 HOSTS: Summer Jubelirer has been in digital commerce and marketing for over 17 years. After spending many years working for digital and ecommerce agencies working with multi-million dollar brands and running teams of Account Managers, she is now the Amazon Manager at OLLY PBC.   LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/summerjubelirer/   Scott Ohsman has been working with brands for over 30 years in retail, online and has launched over 200 brands on Amazon. Mr. Ohsman has been managing brands on Amazon for 19yrs. Owning his own sales and marketing agency in the Pacific NW, is now VP of Digital Commerce for Quickfire LLC. Producer and Co-Host for the top 5 retail podcast, Always Off Brand. He also produces the Brain Driven Brands Podcast featuring leading Consumer Behaviorist Sarah Levinger. Scott has been a featured speaker at national trade shows and has developed distribution strategies for many top brands. LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-ohsman-861196a6/   Hayley Brucker has been working in retail and with Amazon for years. Hayley has extensive experience in digital advertising, both seller and vendor central on Amazon.Hayley is the Director of Ecommerce at Camco Manufacturing and is responsible for their very substantial Amazon business. Hayley lives in North Carolina.  LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayley-brucker-1945bb229/   Huge thanks to Cytrus our show theme music “Office Party” available wherever you get your music. Check them out here: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cytrusmusic Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cytrusmusic/ Twitter https://twitter.com/cytrusmusic SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6VrNLN6Thj1iUMsiL4Yt5q?si=MeRsjqYfQiafl0f021kHwg APPLE MUSIC https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cytrus/1462321449   “Always Off Brand” is part of the Quickfire Podcast Network and produced by Quickfire LLC.  

Retail media is expanding beyond e-commerce ecosystems and into channels like social media and connected TV. Kiri Masters, an independent commentator on the retail media industry, discusses the opportunities and potential pitfalls with WARC Media's Alex Brownsell.

Retail Media Therapy is brought to you by Grace & Co, the marketing acceleration consultancy.Hosted by Viv Craske and Colin Lewis. This episode's special guest is Kiri Masters.This episode: Unilever's new CEO; are DSPs failing, Iceland's RM proposition. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time to break through the complexities surrounding AI and its implementation across retail. Kiri Master, retail media and expert and host of Retail Media Breakfast Club, joins Kantar's Barry Thomas, senior retail thought leader, and Rachel Dalton, head of retail insights, on episode 80 of Kantar's Retail Sound Bites the powerfully transformative AI agents that have the potential to change the game in retail media. This episode also features Julie Craig, Kantar's vice president of shopper insights, who dives into the issues most pressing to shoppers. Have a topic you'd like us to cover? Contact us at Kantar's Retail Sound Bites Podcast. Contact Barry: Email | LinkedIn Contact Rachel: Email | LinkedIn

Carrie interviews Kiri Masters, the founder of Bobsled Marketing, a retail marketing agency focused on platforms like Amazon.   Kiri shares her journey from starting the business in 2015 with no background in retail or agencies to successfully growing it and selling to Acadia in 2021. Despite the financial success, Kiri discusses the emotional challenges she faced post-sale, akin to a 'postpartum depression' for founders.   They delve into her strategic growth driven by content marketing and the careful selection of an M&A advisor. Kiri candidly talks about the emotional vulnerability during the sale process, the transition to working within Acadia, and her eventual realization that she needed to return to her entrepreneurial roots. Now, Kiri is taking time off, exploring new opportunities, and sharing her journey through a substack, a podcast called 'Obsession', and coaching.      00:28 Welcome to the Exit Whisperer 00:39 Meet Kiri Masters: Founder of Bobsled Marketing 01:11 The Emotional Rollercoaster of Selling a Business 03:37 Kiri's Journey: From Banking to E-commerce 05:36 Scaling Bobsled: Content Marketing and Growth 09:18 The Exit Strategy: Planning and Execution 12:12 The Acquisition Process: Partnering with Acadia 15:29 Life After the Sale: Transition and Reflection 32:19 Coping with Post-Sale Emotions

Dave's guest this week is Kiri Masters, who hosts and writes Retail Media Breakfast Club, a daily podcast and newsletter summarizing the latest trends in retail media.  She's also a regular contributor to Forbes' Retail section.  Previously she founded Bobsled Marketing, which was acquired by Acadia in 2022. Kiri shares why it's so difficult to find a true definition of “retail media” (3:28), why specific RMNs need to be treated as their own channels (13:48), her POV on the incredible success of Beast Games on Prime Video (21:38) and why data people also need to learn how to tell a story (32:40). Subscribe to the Retail Media Breakfast Club podcast: https://www.retailmediabreakfastclub.com/Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/retail-media-breakfast-club-7261657654001909760/Connect with Kiri: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiri-masters/Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducers: Sean Leviashvili, Jake Musiker

In this week's episode of Built to Sell Radio, John Warrillow interviews Kiri Masters, founder of Bobsled Marketing. Kiri's marketing agency specialized in helping companies merchandise their products on sites like Amazon.com and Walmart.com.  Kiri successfully transformed a significant social media following into a valuable company.

In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters sits down with Angela Caltagirone, the Chief Digital Marketing Officer of PB5 Star, a brand in the pickleball category. They discuss the official launch of PB5 Star at the Etail West conference in Palm Springs, the demographics of pickleball players, the brand's positioning and go-to-market strategy, and the unique challenges and opportunities in the e-commerce space for a new brand. In today's episode, Kiri and Angela discuss: PB5 Star's official launch at Etail West and the success of the pickleball tournament at the conference. The demographics of pickleball players and the inclusive nature of the sport. The positioning of PB5 Star as a brand that combines style, camaraderie, and wellness for the pickleball community. Differences between pickleball and tennis apparel, focusing on attention to detail, comfort, and style. The founding team's extensive retail experience and their go-to-market strategy for PB5 Star. The decision to start with a direct-to-consumer approach and plans for future expansion into retail channels and marketplaces. The brand's emphasis on authentic storytelling, partnerships, and collaborations in its marketing strategy. The use of technology, AI, and a focus on responsible growth to establish the brand's presence in the market.

In this episode, Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplaces Services at Acadia, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Operations at Acadia, are joined by AJ Patel, VP of Global Growth at U Beauty. They delve into the world of e-commerce, discussing topics such as the transition from analytics to e-commerce, the positioning of Ubeauty in the market, channel-specific marketing strategies, the role of organic marketing efforts, key performance metrics for Amazon, and the importance of profitability in an e-commerce business. In this episode, Julie, Jordan and AJ discuss:  Transition from Analytics to E-commerce: AJ Patel shares insights on transitioning from an analytics role to a more generalist role in e-commerce and the opportunities it presented for leveraging his skillset. Positioning of Ubeauty: The discussion highlights the innovative Siren capsule technology used by Ubeauty, allowing targeted skincare delivery and the brand's focus on sustainability. Channel-specific Marketing Strategies: AJ elaborates on how Ubeauty tailors its approach for different channels, including in-store presentations, the esthetician program, educational content on product detail pages, and leveraging influencers. Role of Organic Marketing Efforts: The importance of organic marketing efforts and the challenge of measuring their impact, with a focus on the investment in content and branding. Key Performance Metrics for Amazon: AJ discusses the metrics used to measure the performance and health of Ubeauty's Amazon account, emphasizing customer acquisition cost (CAC) over average order value (AOV) and customer lifetime value. Importance of Profitability: The conversation underscores the significance of driving profit in addition to growth for e-commerce businesses and having a thorough understanding of channel-specific metrics and their roles in the overall strategy.

In this episode, Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplaces Services at Acadia, and guest Armin Alispahic, Retail Team Lead at Acadia. Julie and Armin dive into the tidal shifts occurring within Amazon operations and fulfillment and how these changes are impacting the 3P model. They explore the complexities of Amazon's fee changes in 2024, the challenges brands currently face, and the strategies they can adopt to effectively navigate this landscape. Armin is a Retail Team Lead at Acadia. He's been at the company for almost 7 years. Internally he's known as Armin.com for his encyclopedic knowledge of Amazon. Over the years, he has gained great experience in working directly with Amazon representatives to support brands in scaling up on Amazon and achieving their goals.  In this episode, Julie and Armin discuss:  Amazon's implementation of new fees and the complexities surrounding these changes. The introduction of specific new fees, such as the low level inventory fee and the returns processing fee, and their implications for brands. The discussion on the importance of a proactive and strategic response to Amazon's evolving fee structure. The potential opportunities and challenges faced when enrolling in programs like Sip (Ships in Product Packaging) and FBA New Selection. How Sip can offer brands cost savings and branding opportunities, with caveats regarding package safety and giftability. Why all brand-registered sellers should consider FBA New Selection for launching new products with fee waivers. Insights into Amazon's AWD program, its potential cost savings, the concerns regarding the control over inventory, and the impact on sales velocity. The necessity of an omnichannel strategy and diversifying sales channels in light of Amazon's shifting ecosystem. The expanding opportunities for brands in retail media networks and on other retailer platforms like Walmart and Target.

In today's episode, hosts Kiri Masters and Julie Spear are joined by Lisa Levin, and Andreliz Bautista McGlade from the personal care brand Pharmacopia. They delve into the history of the brand, its unique journey from natural grocery stores to exclusive hotel amenities, and its recent foray into ecommerce. Key Highlights: - Lisa Levin shares the origins of Pharmacopia, how she transitioned from graphic design to herbal medicine, and the brand's early commitment to creating clean, toxin-free products. - Andreliz Bautista McGlade discusses the transition of Pharmacopia from gift products to natural groceries and later into beauty, including a brief stint on QVC. - The guests elaborate on the partnership with Hunter Amenities, the pivot to an exclusive hotel brand, and the subsequent relaunch of their aromatherapy retail line through Amazon and their own branded site. - They discuss the challenges of expanding into various channels, managing brand identity in marketplaces, and optimizing their ecommerce strategy with the help of partners like Acadia. - The episode also covers the performance of different sales channels, the challenges of leveraging their hotel presence for direct sales, and the unique opportunities and strategies for brand growth in the ecommerce space.  

In this episode, host Kiri Masters interviews Ash McMullen, the e-commerce lead at Advantice Health, the company that manufactures the brands Amlactin, Kerasal, and more.  Ash recently presented a case study about Advantice's portfolio brand “Triple Paste” at eTail West in Palm Springs, sharing how a strategic re-launch of this brand on Amazon ultimately led the product to become a top-3 seller in its category and 5X-ing total sales on Amazon within 2 years.  In this conversation you'll learn: How a ‘full-funnel' approach was key to success  - looking beyond ROAS (even planning for deteriorating ROAS in the journey) was key. Ash discusses the need to shift focus from traditional metrics like ROAS to broader, more relevant metrics aligned with the overall strategy. This shift allows for a more comprehensive evaluation of campaign success. The number one component for the re-launch? “Content, content, content” and how Ash positions investment in content to executives.   How a product variation strategy enhances the shopper experience.  How to have a great relationship with your finance team. Ash values collaboration between different teams, particularly with the finance team, to align marketing tactics with content strategies. Leading Indicators like new-to-brand percentage, traffic source analysis, and overall sales trends to ensure you're tracking toward a bigger goal like market share.  What Ash is excited about in ecommerce, and what she's changed her mind about. 

In this episode of the e-commerce brain trust podcast, Kiri Masters, head of Retail Media Strategy at Acadia, interviews Nicole Hatley, Global Content Strategy Manager for Skechers, at the Etail West conference in Palm Springs. Nicole discusses her role in managing Skechers' content across all e-commerce platforms and countries and the unique challenges that come with it. Nicole also shares her experiences as a professor of e-commerce marketing at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. The discussion covers the rapid evolution of e-commerce and how she prepares her students for a continually changing market. Nicole also shares her excitement for the future of e-commerce, specifically personalization efforts.   00:00 Introduction to Nicole 00:24 Nicole's role overseeing Global Content Strategy for Skechers 01:54 Nicole's role as a a professor of e-commerce marketing and equipping the next generation for this dynamic industry 05:56 The Impact of Personalization in E-commerce 06:41 The most impactful personalization tactic that Nicole is using right now

In this podcast episode, the hosts Kiri Masters and Julie Spear examine the pros and cons of working with a reseller to sell a brand's products on Amazon (compared with the managing processes internally or working with an agency). Resellers offer expertise navigating Amazon's complexities and provide operational support to quickly enter or expand markets. However,  the risk for brands includes losing control over branding, customer experience, and data ownership due to misaligned priorities or operational risks. Julie Spear is the Head of Retail Marketplaces & Media at Acadia. www.acadia.io

In today's episode, Kiri Masters is joined by Julie Spear, the Head of Retail Services at Acadia. Kiri Masters and Julie Spear explore the downsides of Amazon resellers, and dissect the reseller model's challenges, discussing control and costs, and why it may not suit your brand. Key Highlights: - Reseller Model Insights: We define resellers and differentiate between authorized and unauthorized ones, delineating the blurred lines between resellers and agencies. - Reseller Versus Other Models: Referencing a conversation with Acadia's CEO, Jared Belsky, we contrast resellers with other marketplace strategies. - Attractiveness of Resellers: Why many brands find resellers appealing despite potential downsides – discussing the lure of expertise, operational ease, and perceived cash flow benefits. - Brand Vision Conflicts: How a partnership with a reseller might limit a brand's strategic possibilities, shackle product launches, and blur key data insights. - Turnover and Terms: Analyzing the effect of resellers' turnover terms on brands, spotlighting the risks of mismatched expectations. - Case Study: The repercussions of a reseller mismanaging Snow Peak's pricing and the broader implications for brand image. - Transitional Challenges: The difficulties brands face in moving away from resellers toward direct sales models, such as reasserting brand registry rights and the daunting task of reinstating operational capacity. - Payment Terms and Paperwork: Unveiling the reality behind the upfront payment attraction and the potential for unfavorable payment terms. - Direct Sales Comparison: Discussing the financial dynamics between selling through resellers, directly to Amazon, or on the marketplace. - Brand Control Limitations: Examining the reduced control over brand portrayal, the infrequent updating of product detail pages, and suboptimal SEO practices under reseller partnerships. - Cost Considerations: Julie Spear breaks down the multiple costs associated with resellers, including media investment, supply chain expenses, and significant fees. -  Partnership Models: Kiri stresses that no singular model is flawless and discusses how revenue-based partnerships could stifle business growth. -  Assortment Selection: Lastly, we touch on the issue of resellers cherry-picking inventory, leaving brands to strategize on marketing and selling the remaining products.

Kiri Masters and Julie Spear dive deep into the world of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) from the vantage point of agency partnerships.    For brands, the RFP process is infrequent, but it is a decision that may have a profound impact on their business. But for agencies like Acadia, its a process we are navigating nearly every week.    Kiri and Julie share their agency-side experiences from the last 9 years, in the hopes that it can help brands to choose the best agency for them, foster better relationships, and ramp up projects quickly.   Key Highlights: Pitfalls in RFP processes: unrealistic timelines, unclear objectives, being too prescriptive, playing favorites, inconsistent stakeholder involvement.  How you run the RFP signals to your prospective partner what they can expect from the relationship. What message is your process sending about you, your team, and your company?  Approaching the process not just seeking a service provider, but a true partner. This entails understanding the agency's culture, values, and team dynamics beyond mere capability presentations. The one thing that less than 5% of brands do during their RFP process, but could save significant time, expense, and indecision.     A great RFP approach can foster more meaningful, productive, and innovative agency partnerships.   "When you're too prescriptive in your approach, you hold back what can be discovered." - Julie Spear Click here to learn more about Acadia. 

Another blockbuster episode with the brilliant Kiri Masters and Julie Spear. The dynamic duo who started Bobsled Marketing and now run strategy and services for Retail Marketplaces for Acadia. We start with some Amazon juicy nuggets and then they teach us about who is really the one to watch in the Retail Media system that no one is talking enough about? We play “Always Off Brand is Ecommerce Simplified, Learn & Laugh!    QUICKFIRE Info:   Website: https://www.quickfirenow.com/ Email the Show: info@quickfirenow.com  Talk to us on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quickfireproductions Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quickfire__/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@quickfiremarketing LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/company/quickfire-productions-llc/about/   GUEST: Kiri Masters  Head of Retail Marketplace Strategy at Acadia  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiri-masters/ Acadia Site: https://acadia.io/ Kiri Masters Site: https://www.kirimasters.com/ GUEST: Julie Spear  Head of Retail Marketplaces Service at Acadia  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-spear-a90b948/ Website: https://acadia.io/ HOSTS: Summer Jubelirer has been in digital commerce and marketing for over 16 years. After spending many years working for digital and ecommerce agencies working with multi-million dollar brands and running teams of Account Managers, she is now the Amazon Manager at OLLY PBC.   LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/summerjubelirer/   Scott Ohsman has been working with brands for over 28 years in retail, online and has launched over 200 brands on Amazon. Owning his own sales and marketing agency in the Pacific NW, is now VP of Digital Commerce for Quickfire LLC. Scott has been a featured speaker at national trade shows and has developed distribution strategies for many top brands. LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-ohsman-861196a6/   Hayley Brucker has been working in retail and with Amazon for years. Hayley has extensive experience in digital advertising, both seller and vendor central on Amazon. Hayley is based out of North Carolina and has worked in multiple product categories and has also worked on the brand side and started with Nordstrom on the retail floor.  LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayley-brucker-1945bb229/   Huge thanks to Cytrus our show theme music “Office Party” available wherever you get your music. Check them out here: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cytrusmusic Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cytrusmusic/ Twitter https://twitter.com/cytrusmusic SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6VrNLN6Thj1iUMsiL4Yt5q?si=MeRsjqYfQiafl0f021kHwg APPLE MUSIC https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cytrus/1462321449   “Always Off Brand” is part of the Quickfire Podcast Network and produced by Quickfire LLC.  

In today's episode, Kiri Masters is joined by Julie Spear, the Head of Retail Services at Acadia, and Ross Walker, Senior Paid Media Manager. Today, they are diving deep into the world of retail media networks. They're tackling the big questions about brand expansion into new retail media networks, the challenges involved, and the strategies for success. Stay tuned as they unpack the complexities of navigating this dynamic landscape and provide actionable insights that can transform the way you allocate your advertising budget and optimize your presence across different platforms. In this episode Kiri, Julie and Ross discuss: - Challenges brands face when expanding into new retail media networks. - Navigating budget allocation and overcoming organizational silos. - Addressing concerns such as incrementality, cannibalization, and bandwidth constraints. - Julie Spear's queries about markers for readiness and performance metrics. - Ross Walker's insights on the importance of a clear business trend view post-ad investment. - The strategic approach for managing retail media to ensure advertising efficiency. - Analyzing brand investment impact across various sales channels. - Understanding channel offerings and customer buying habits as they affect product performance. - Testing strategies across multiple retail networks to discern customer engagement and response. - Approaches for measuring the success of a channel in terms of incremental sales and CPA. - Importance and challenges of obtaining third-party data and search volume trends. - Potential of specific platforms like Kroger and the pitfalls of managed service options. - Exploring the effectiveness of retail media channels by looking beyond their own reporting. - Setting clear goals and a timeframe when testing retail media network campaigns. - Measuring incrementality and the reality of limited customer data access. - The impact of privacy policies on the ability to prove incremental new customer acquisition. - The overarching goal of meeting and improving the customer experience on various platforms.

In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters is joined by Lauren Livak, lead at the Digital Shelf Institute, and Mike Black, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Profitero, a global commerce acceleration company. In this podcast, they're discussing the new Digital Shelf Institute and Profitero report “Defining Content Effectiveness”. Here you can register to join them in the webinar in February. In today's episode, we delve into the ever-evolving world of content effectiveness in digital retail. Kiri, Lauren, and Mike unpack the intricacies of creating impactful content that resonates with consumers and drives conversion. Drawing from their new report which involved interviewing over twelve digital leaders, they explore the duality of art and science when it comes to defining what effective content truly means for different brands.  If you're looking for comprehensive insights on improving your ecommerce content strategy, you won't want to miss this enlightening conversation. Are you ready to transition from merely sufficient content to truly effective communication with your consumer base? Make sure you tune in! More about the guests: Mike Black Mike joined Profitero in 2017 as Vice President of Marketing and has been instrumental in the company's growth after joining Publicis Group, grew the company's offerings beyond digital shelf analytics to include predictive analytics, retail media, and content activation solutions. Before joining Profitero, Mike held marketing roles at Nielsen and Staples Lauren Livak Lauren leads the Digital Shelf Institute in defining the strategy to create a global commerce community that supports brands, retailers, and future leaders in the complex world of digital. Across her roles, she has worked with hundreds of brand manufacturers helping them to develop an overall commerce strategy and vision for their commerce journey leveraging her work at Johnson & Johnson where she was the owner of the Digital Shelf for the Consumer family of products for North America. She launched a new approach for the way the Consumer North America business went to digital retail both in pure play & omni-channel streams covering multiple platforms such as OTC, Beauty, Oral Care, Baby Care & Wound Care with accountability for 40+ retailers and 33+ brands.   In this episode Kiri, Lauren and Mike discuss: - The five core pillars of content effectiveness: people, data and systems, process, measurement, and retailer collaboration. - The importance of understanding shopper behavior and using that knowledge to drive engagement with content. - How content impacts organic search and can be utilized to educate leadership teams on its importance. - Using retailer conversion data and measurement tools to understand content effectiveness in terms of emotional and brand impact. - The necessity for organizations to go through a maturity curve to fully understand and define content effectiveness. - The significance of internal processes and avoiding siloed teams to maximize content impact. - The potential of advanced tools, such as AI, once the content effectiveness fundamentals are well-established. - Upcoming webinar announcement and the availability of the content effectiveness report at digitalshelfinstitute.org. - The debate around whether content is being managed for mere sufficiency or optimized for effectiveness. - The essential role of communicating the value of content to leadership, particularly in the absence of clear-cut metrics. - The value of search-optimized content and transitioning to content that both builds a brand and drives conversion. - The need for resources that can harness consumer insights, and processes that ensure content reaches the right channels. - Surprising variations in content effectiveness definitions among digital leaders, indicating a lack of a one-size-fits-all approach. - Importance of content integration with product launches, and how some brands succeed while others fall short. - The balance between the creative and methodical aspects of measuring content effectiveness and return on investment.  

In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters shares a special replay from "Unpacking the Digital Shelf" webinar,  presented by our friends over at the Digital Shelf Institute, Peter Crosby and Lauren Livak. They are discussing ‘The Walmart Marketplace: Copy and Paste is a Waste!" and are navigating the intricacies of the Walmart Marketplace and why it's not just another Amazon. Guests were Tom Spaven, VP of Marketing at Goodwipes at the time of the recording, and industry expert Lauren Livak on board to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities on this emerging platform.  Whether you're a seasoned seller or new to the ecommerce space, this session is packed with insights on how to tailor your strategy for success in the Walmart sphere.  Make sure you tune in to find out more! In today's episode, Peter, Lauren, Kiri and Tom discuss:   - Walmart's specific product title guidelines and the importance of keyword research and content optimization. - Behavioral differences between Walmart and Amazon consumers, resulting in the need for platform-specific strategies. - The valuable yet underutilized newer tools on Walmart, such as videos and feature sets. - The challenges of updating product pages and the competitive advantage of using tools like Acadia. - Walmart's immersive shopping experience that promotes browsing through collection pages. - The difficulties and significance of obtaining product reviews on Walmart. - The contrast between self-serve ad platforms on Amazon and Walmart. - The disparities between Amazon and Walmart in terms of assortment, basket size, and purchase frequency. - Content quality scores and their impact on Walmart's algorithm. - The necessity for lower-priced products, seller performance, and content quality for better visibility on Walmart. - Attribution and metadata differences critical for Walmart optimization, as opposed to Amazon. - Updates on content quality, attribution weighting, and the importance of strategic cell sheet updates. - Tom Spaven's challenges in syndicating reviews and Lauren Livak's insights into review challenges across retailers. - Kiri Masters delved into advertising on Walmart, including its limitations and opportunities. - The prioritization of data improvement for Walmart Connect and the call for transparency from the platform. - Allocation of resources across omnichannel brands and the distinct growth avenues on Walmart's marketplace. - The cost difference in accessing data from Amazon versus Walmart's Luminate platform. - The advantages of being a one p brand versus a three p brand at Walmart and the online presence implications. - The criticalness of online optimization for retail strategy, highlighted by consumer preferences and the synergy of in-store and online shopping. - The discussion on the increased focus on retail media, its influence on consumer consideration and conversion, and the need for modernizing marketing strategies with a consumer-centric approach. - The potential and challenges of Walmart's grocery focus and Walmart Luminate's data-sharing capabilities.  

In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters, Head of Retail Marketplace Strategy at Acadia, dives deep into the nuances of navigating industry conferences and events with expert precision. Kiri delivers an insightful look into maximizing the value of attending conferences, based on personal experiences, fruitful strategies, and networking best practices.  Make sure you tune in to find out more! In today's episode, Kiri talks about: - Her growth trajectory as a manager and practitioner, and the importance of leveraging events for continuous learning. - Strategies for connecting with professionals across various companies to expand perspectives and foster potential collaborations. - Implementing event-learned knowledge into business practices to secure the ROI on travel and conference expenses. - Tips on sharing insights on LinkedIn after events, including creating listicles, and the use of engaging visuals such as mind maps. - Understanding the true essence of networking and the significance of stepping out of one's comfort zone for long-term career advantages. - Handling interactions with exhibitors, including learning from Richard Kestenbaum, asking pertinent questions, and extracting meaningful insights. - Best practices for securing speaking opportunities and maximizing post-event follow-up routines. - An overview of the value-packed conferences Kiri is set to participate in during the first half of 2024, such as Etail West and Retail Media Summit among others. - Insights into devising a strategic approach to select and benefit from various industry events, especially when under budgetary constraints. - Kiri's six golden tips for effective networking and creating authentic relationships by avoiding trivial small talk using her innovative AVH conversation formula. - Guidance on how to engage with fellow attendees and vendors pre-event, during, and post-conference for enhancing networking opportunities and building lasting connections. - Navigating the exhibition floor with confidence, dispelling the awkwardness, and transforming it into a treasure trove of industry knowledge and trends. Events at which Kiri is speaking this year:  Etail West ANA media conference DSI event Acadia - Retail Media Summit  

In this podcast episode, Kiri speaks with Acadia's co-founder and CEO Jared Belsky. They discuss the various options available to brand-side marketers and sales leaders for retail marketplace management. They delve into the pros and cons of four options, including in-house investment, agency support, technology companies, and resellers, providing valuable insights for ecommerce professionals as they strategize for growth in 2024. Make sure you tune in to find out more! In today's episode, Kiri and Jared discuss: - Identifying the options available for brand-side marketers to seek help in achieving growth goals in the face of various challenges - The need for clarity in understanding the differences between in-house investment, agency support, technology companies, and resellers - Considerations for beefing up in-house investment, including justifying headcount and focusing on specialization - The significance of understanding the economics and aligning with the business requirements when considering agency support - Exploring the complexities and risks involved in engaging with resellers in the context of offloading operations and maintaining control over distribution, pricing, and inventory - Evaluating scenarios when it may not be ideal to engage an agency, such as the need for specialized expertise, economic considerations, and the importance of effective client sponsorship - The collaborative role of the client in nurturing a successful relationship with an agency and making informed decisions amidst the pressures of ecommerce growth goals for 2024

Walmart.com has become an attractive marketplace channel for brands to consider. The trap that many brands fall into, however, is to simply "copy and paste" their Amazon product content and advertising strategy. But Walmart's platform is different in several fundamental ways, such as how products are ranked in organic search. This podcast is an audio version of a recent DSI webinar featuring Kiri Masters, Head of Retail Marketplace Strategy at Acadia and Tom Spaven, VP of Marketing at Good Wipes sharing their Walmart playbook for success and how your brand can utilize Walmart better in your digital shelf strategy.

In this episode of "The Ecommerce Braintrust" podcast, Kiri Masters and guest Armin Alispahic delve into the major changes coming to FBA fees in 2024. They discuss the intricacies of these changes and explore how they will impact sellers on Amazon's platform. Armin is a Retail Team Lead at Acadia. He's been at the company for almost 7 years. Internally he's known as Armin.com for his encyclopedic knowledge of Amazon. Over the years, he has gained great experience in working directly with Amazon representatives to support brands in scaling up on Amazon and achieving their goals.  Make sure you tune in to find out more! In this episode, Kiri and Armin discuss:  Introduction of the inbound placement service fee to cover the cost of transporting shipments. Amazon's shift from national fulfillment to interconnected regional fulfillment networks and the resulting impact on sellers. The impact of the inbound placement service fee on different types of brands and products. Changes in FBA fees and the impact on sellers' costs and savings. Introduction of the low-level inventory fee and its implications for sellers. The ship in product packaging program and its potential to create savings for sellers. Reduced referral fees for apparel products priced below $20.

In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters, Head of Retail Marketplace Strategy at Acadia, and Damiano Ciarrocchi, Retail Media Manager at Acadia,  talk about the newly launched Kroger precision marketing retail media network (KPM). They delve into the unique features and capabilities of the self-serve ad platform, as well as the interesting aspects of Kroger's advertising platform. From the reduction in fees for brands to the potential integration of a demand-side platform (DSP), Kiri and Damiano explore the possibilities and predictions for the future of Kroger's advertising offerings.  Make sure you tune in to find out more! Kiri and Damiano discuss:  Launch of Kroger's advertising platform and reduced fees for advertisers. Contextual targeting within categories and subcategories for audience targeting capabilities. Ad placement options and store selection for targeted advertising. Precise and modifiable creative capabilities for sponsored brand ads on Kroger's platform. Predictions for Kroger and the retail media space, including potential integration of in-store advertising and the impact of potential mergers with Albertsons.

In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters is joined by Tsege Gebreyohannes, Sr. Manager of Digital & Experience from Nature's Way Canada. They talk about how Nature's Way battles random factory brands on Amazon. Tsege shares her experience of noticing the emergence of factory direct brands and the impact they had on Nature's Way's business. The episode provides insights into the strategies employed to combat these new competitors and how the organization adapted its approach to tackle the challenge. Make sure you tune in to find out more! As the Sr. Manager of Digital & Experience, Tsege manages both the Ecommerce side of the business as well as overall digital strategy and execution for the organization. She now manages a varied team made up of ecommerce salespeople, digital content including social media, and our customer service experience, her background has been in traditional CPG brand marketing, and before that she came from an advertising agency background. Tsege has been with Nature's Way Canada now for almost 8 years. In today's episode, Kiri, and Tsege discuss: Impact of factory direct brands on traditional CPG brands Underestimation of smaller brands in the ecommerce space Adapting content, advertising, and messaging to counter the competition Evaluating competitive strategies across different sales channels The importance of understanding the retail ecosystem and the role of Amazon Lessons learned and advice for brands facing similar challenges  

In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters is joined by Emily Peterson, Team Lead at Acadia, and Damiano Ciarrocchi, head of Retail Strategy at Acadia. Kiri, Emily, and Damiano share insights on the trends and performance of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday event this year, including the significant increase in online spending and the observations made on Black Friday versus Cyber Monday sales. The conversation covers early promotions, advertising strategies, client outcomes, and lessons learned, providing valuable takeaways for navigating the peak selling period through the end of the year.  Make sure you tune in to find out more! In today's episode, Kiri, Emily and Damiano discuss: - Black Friday/Cyber Monday event predictions and figures, Adobe predicted that the spend would be $12 billion on Cyber Monday and nearly $10 billion on Black Friday. - Observations that Friday saw more action than Monday on retail marketplaces like Amazon, despite traditional data showing Monday as the bigger volume day. - The trend of earlier and earlier sales and promotional activities by DTC brands and retail marketplaces, with brands launching holiday sales as early as November 1. - Strategies and outcomes for clients during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday period, including a client in the apparel category doubling down on promotional activities in early October and achieving a 36% increase from the previous year's sales. - The impact of proactive ramp-up periods on organic ranking and ad performance, resulting in more sustainable outcomes and less expensive advertising. - Observations of Black Friday as the standout day in terms of sales, with Saturday being the largest decline in sales and Cyber Monday being comparatively lackluster. - A minor operational issue with setting up Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals on Amazon where a specific checkbox had to be selected for the deals badge to appear on the product page. - Insights into ad spend allocation and impressions during Black Friday, including a slight decrease in ad spend compared to other events, but a higher ratio of impressions to cost. - Observations about trends and peak sales times during the event, as well as strategies for budget management and proactive budget adjustments based on hourly peaks. - The reminder that every day until December 21 is a peak selling day and the importance of maintaining momentum and managing budgets for continued success throughout the holiday period.

In today's short episode announcement, Kiri Masters informs the listeners that this week's episode, covering the recap of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the entire November holiday selling season, will be available on Wednesday, November 29. Considering the 24-hour timeframe needed for episode production, your understanding is appreciated as we strive to deliver valuable insights. This slight delay is intended to ensure that each episode remains actionable and beneficial to you as a listener. Thank you for your patience, and stay tuned for the new episode tomorrow.  

In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, host Kiri Masters shares a special replay from "Unpacking the Digital Shelf," presented by our friends over at the Digital Shelf Institute, Peter Crosby and Lauren Livak. They're diving into the realm of Amazon Marketing Cloud, an open database that provides deeply insightful data for advertisers, with Ross Walker, the retail media team lead at Acadia, joining them to unfold the complexities of AMC and, more importantly, how to use it to our advantage. Whether you're an executive, an e-commerce manager, or a budding data analyst, get ready for a knowledge-packed session. Make sure you tune in to find out more! In today's episode, Peter, Lauren and Ross discuss: - AMC offers the ability to positively target customers based on specific behaviors, which includes customers who added items to the cart but didn't purchase. - Use of the AMC in remarketing to customers who were previously exposed to a campaign. - AMC helps brands identify their prime products for generating new customers and aids in making wise marketing decisions. - Introduction to the ASIN Overlap report aiding in predicting customers' future purchases. - Differences in the adoption and usage maturity of the AMC among clients, ranging from unawareness to sophisticated usage. - Successful clients often have internal abilities and use AMC data for informed marketing decisions. - Importance and significance of the 'New to brand' metric for Amazon sellers and vendors. - Insights offered by AMC allow a better understanding of marketing performance from a new-to-brand perspective.  - The emergence of the incremental ROAS concept for assessing sales lift and ROAS due to increased ad spending. - Potential improvements for Amazon Media Console, such as AI capabilities for natural language queries. - Recommendations for incorporating AMC into future strategies by tracking new-to-brand campaigns. - Challenges in effective utilization of data when outsourcing AMC insights to third-party tools. - The bystander effect of very few brands using AMC to upload and anonymize CRM data to target customers through Amazon DSP. - The importance of the 'New to brand' metric surfaced by AMC in evaluating the effectiveness of campaigns in attracting new customers. - Possible shift towards a focus on acquiring new customers rather than upselling to existing ones in uncertain economic times. - Features of AMC being complex and requiring understanding of writing SQL code. - Explanation of the queries AMC offers for various stakeholders to get insights into their advertising performance.  - The use of AMC in providing broader picture of a brand's performance on Amazon.  - Use of AMC to target audiences based on shopper behavior, location, and other factors.

In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, host Kiri Masters talks with Chris Perry, co-founder of firstmovr. They delve into the concept of "smarter growth" and how it can help brands and retailers achieve incremental growth in the e-commerce space. From driving households, baskets, and trips to leveraging category management principles, they cover a range of strategies and tactics.  Chris Perry is the Chief Learning Officer at firstmovr, a Satellite Center of Excellence (COE) for CPG Omni Education & Change Management on a mission to help empower first movers — both people and organizations — to win in a disruptive marketplace. Make sure you tune in to find out more! In today's episode, Kiri and Chris discuss: - Introduction to firstmovr as a center for omni education and change management in e-commerce. - The "smarter growth framework" as a means to organize and drive incremental growth. - Drawing principles from brick and mortar to leverage them for e-commerce success. - Moving beyond tactics to focus on the "why" of growth and driving incrementality. - The importance of understanding household penetration, buy rate, and the four quadrants of growth. - Applying the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) framework for more strategic and measurable growth goals. - Emphasizing the need for intentional content optimization and leveraging levers at scale. - Examples of best practices in basket building, including stocking up, trade up, and bundles. - Strategies employed by Procter & Gamble (PNG) and L'Oreal in driving growth through advertising and product differentiation. - Harnessing shopper purchase data for targeted personalization in advertising. - Practical ways for brands to deploy investments and gain more control over their growth strategies. - The upcoming "smarter events" by Firstmover, offering education and support for implementing smarter growth strategies.

In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, Kiri Masters is joined by Damiano Ciarrocchi, head of Retail Strategy at Acadia. They discuss the Chewy Retail Media Network and how pet brands can advertise on Chewy.com. Acadia just launched an advertising management capability for the Chewy retail media network, adding this platform to the roster of retail media networks Acadia now supports. Damiano highlights the uniqueness of Chewy as a retail media network, its hyper-specific focus on the pet category, and the potential for brand loyalty among pet owners. They also explore the advertising opportunities on Chewy, including conquesting, and the technical aspects of the platform, such as the current use of Promote IQ and the future launch of banner ads. Additionally, they touch on the importance of campaign tagging and the audience targeting capabilities on Chewy. In today's episode, Kiri and Damiano discuss: Introduction to Chewy Retail Media Network and its comparison to Amazon advertising - High-level observations about Chewy RMN, including its hyper-specificity and the loyalty of its pet product shoppers Positive results and efficiency of sponsored ads on Chewy RMN Importance of considering Chewy as a viable retail network option for pet brands  The possibility of brand conquesting on Chewy and its significance for competitors  Discussion on Walmart's stance on conquesting (uncertain, but potential loophole) Technical aspects of the Chewy Media Network, including its use of promote IQ and the availability of product listing ads (PLA) Mention of future plans for launching banner ads on Chewy RMN Overview of additional features provided by Pacvue, including campaign tagging and budget management Importance of campaign tagging for retail media allocation and comparing performance across platforms Audience targeting capabilities on Chewy, focused on contextual targeting rather than specific audience demographics. Learn more about Acadia's Chewy advertising capabilities at https://acadia.io/services/retail-media-marketplaces/chewy-retail-media-management/ About Chewy's Retail Media Network: Chewy's retail media network is still quite new, having only opened up to advertisers recently. But it offers interesting potential, especially for brands in the pet care space looking to find new customers. As background, Chewy is solely focused on pet products, so their shopper base is very loyal and niche compared to mass retailers like Amazon or Walmart. Pet owners tend to stick with brands their furry friends like, making it a great channel for customer retention. How the Chewy Advertising Platform Works The self-serve platform Chewy uses is called PromoteIQ, by Microsoft. It's fairly basic - you get a simple dashboard to launch campaigns and view reporting. Right now Chewy only offers one campaign type, product listing ads (PLAs), similar to Amazon's sponsored products. But they plan to launch sponsored brand campaigns soon. Acadia partners with the ad tech platform Pacvue to enable enhanced campaign management and reporting beyond what PromoteIQ provides. Bidding and Targeting Capabilities Here's where Chewy differs from Amazon - you bid at the individual product (SKU) level rather than on keywords. So you can set a higher budget for your higher priority items. The ad targeting is contextual, meaning products show for shoppers browsing related categories or searching relevant terms. You control bids by product category and subcategory. Chewy does allow keyword bid modifiers, but you lack visibility into performance by keyword. So optimization can be more challenging than in Amazon. Why Chewy is Worth a Look for Pet Brands While the platform needs development, there are compelling reasons for pet brands to consider Chewy: - Early adopters can gain an advantage before competitors join - Conquesting competitors' shoppers is possible here - Loyalty means getting trial can lead to long-term buyers - Chewy incentivizes brands who help them grow revenue If you're a brand in the pet category that sells on Chewy.com, it's a no-brainer to get started with ads.

In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters talks with Todd Hassenfelt,  Global Digital Commerce Sr Director of Strategy & Execution at Colgate-Palmolive, to discuss Amazon Inspire.  As a leading figure in the global digital commerce space, Todd brings his expertise and insights to the table as they explore whether Amazon Inspire has the potential to challenge social media platforms like TikTok.  They dive into the details of Inspire, its features, user traction, and its impact on brands. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of this emerging platform and its potential implications for the ecommerce industry. In today's episode, Kiri and Todd discuss: - Todd shares his experiences and insights from working in the digital commerce industry.  - The main topic of discussion is Amazon Inspire, a social media-like platform on Amazon.  - They explore whether Amazon Inspire can compete with social media platforms like TikTok.  - Todd discusses his initial reaction to seeing the light bulb icon of Amazon Inspire on the Amazon shopping app.  - He highlights the evolution of the platform, including the shift to a sparkle icon and the addition of features like content sharing.  - The seamless user experience of Inspire is emphasized, with the ability to toggle between images, visit product detail pages (PDP), and make purchases without leaving the platform. - Todd suggests that Amazon Inspire is currently still in its early stages and may not have garnered much attention yet, but brands should keep an eye on it.  - Brands can post content on Inspire through Amazon Brand Stores or by working with influencers. - Todd mentions the growing presence of user-generated content (UGC) on Inspire, particularly video reviews, which brands should pay attention to and address any concerns.  - Kiri expresses her disappointment in Amazon's missed opportunity to engage with brands more effectively on Inspire, similar to their earlier program called Spark.  - She believes that brands could create engaging content on the platform, enhancing the user experience and contributing to discoverability. 

Bruce Smith is the Founder & CEO of Hydrow, the leading at-home connected rower that brings the on-water experience of rowing straight to your home. A lifelong entrepreneur, rower and coach, Bruce has dedicated his career to helping others experience the power of the sport at all levels. Bruce founded Hydrow to capture the unique experience of on-water rowing and make it universally accessible, helping people everywhere feel more connected to one another and live healthier lives on a daily basis. In this podcast, host Kiri Masters and Bruce discuss: How did Bruce first fall in love with rowing? How Bruce led Community Rowing in Boston to become the largest rowing outreach organization in the world, and tripled operating income of the organization, during the great financial crisis. How Bruce came to found Hydrow and early days. How Hydrow is building a content-first, product-led DTC strategy. How personalization has been a big unlock as a strategy - leveraging 1P data from customers. In comparison to a market awareness approach. Hydrow also sells on Amazon. At one point in time, that was taboo for DTC brands. What place does marketplaces like Amazon have for Hydrow, now and in the future?

In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters talks with Colleen Basaydin, Global eCommerce Director at Mondelez, about the challenges and strategies in the digital commerce space. They discuss the importance of being where the customer is, adapting to changing trends, and the value of marketplaces like Amazon. With over 20 years of expertise in Sales, Customer Marketing, and Digital Commerce, Colleen has worked with a diverse range of retail customers and brands. She transitioned into the digital commerce space over a decade ago, starting with the baby gear industry and supporting companies like Newell Brands during their digital transformation. She now plays a pivotal role at Mondelēz, guiding their approach to digital commerce and educating the company on best practices, particularly in their relationship with marketplace giant, Amazon.  In today's episode, Kiri and Colleen discuss: Colleen emphasizes the need to be where customers are and adapt to their changing shopping behaviors. They highlight the blurring lines between shopping channels and the importance of providing solutions that meet customer needs. Colleen discusses consumer sentiment and trends to inform strategy, particularly in the marketplace space. The challenges in the industry include the rapid pace of change, profitability concerns, and finding the right partners and capabilities for product development. It is important to have a diverse team with unique skill sets and backgrounds to drive positive change. Colleen shares her own career journey and the transformation of Mondelez's digital commerce team. They also discuss the complexity of selling food products online, the importance of assortment planning, and the future growth of marketplaces. Colleen's work with Amazon has led to significant growth and transformation for the company. They highlight the importance of testing and innovation, particularly in markets like China. The early days of selling on Amazon were described as the "Wild, Wild West" for big brands.

In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters, shares updates and reminders related to peak season dates, including Prime Day and Black Friday Cyber Monday. She also discusses a fascinating update about Amazon Marketing Cloud, focusing on three key points: Day Parting Settings, Geotargeting, and AMC Custom Audiences. These best practices offer insights for optimizing advertising strategies and maximizing performance on Amazon. In today's episode, Kiri talks about: Important Dates for Ecommerce Sellers Reminder to send FBA and Multichannel Fulfillment Inventory to Amazon by October 26. Importance of shipping inventory early due to potential carrier backlogs. Example of inventory shortage in previous Q4 season. Ensuring inventory arrives before cutoff dates to maximize advertising strategy. Updates on Amazon Marketing Cloud Day Parting Settings: Report available in Amazon Marketing Cloud to view performance by hour. Testing showed slight increase in ROAS and Troas during non-midnight to 5 am hours. Geotargeting: Focusing on specific areas of states or DMAs can lead to more visibility and better performance. Test combining geotargeting and day parting for optimal results. AMC Custom Audiences: Creating an audience of customers who added products to cart but didn't make a purchase. Effective for reminding potential customers about the brand. Benefits of Amazon Marketing Cloud Overview dashboard for analyzing customer journey and conversion paths. Audience Insights for understanding shopper demographics, location data, and interests. Using AMC Insights to segment targeting and optimize performance. Success story of account's performance growth after incorporating AMC before Prime Day. Integration of DSP and PPC with AMC AMC as an advanced reporting package suitable for Amazon DSP users. Bringing together data from DSP and PPC to understand their impact on performance.

In today's episode are revisiting the most popular episode of 2023, featuring Kiri Masters and the director of SEO in Acadia, Scott Walldren. Scott shares his insights and expertise on ecommerce-specific SEO strategies. With the changing landscape of paid traffic, SEO has emerged as a crucial long-term traffic strategy for retail and ecommerce brands. Scott dives into the key considerations and tactics necessary to optimize your online store for search engines. Make sure you tune in! Scott Walldren is the Director of SEO for Acadia since October 2022. Previously, he spent 8 years developing and eventually heading up the SEO practice at 360i for Dentsu international. In addition to SEO, Scott has managed millions in paid search spend for national brands at Digitas and Razorfish and as a consultant inside and outside of startups. He lives in the far north Atlanta suburbs (close to Lake Lanier) with his wife, 3 kids, and 3 cats. Incidentally, he has some hands-on experience (albeit about 10 years old) setting up a store, product feeds and running ads on Amazon when he was at Case-Mate. In today's episode, Kiri and Scott discuss: E-commerce-specific SEO strategies - What's different about ranking content for ecommerce vs other types of sites - It's blessed and cursed by the nature of its templates and functions and as a result, you need to think through both your indexation strategy and how your content will be syndicated. What has changed in this area / what should be the focus in 2023 - Reputation matters more than ever. Who you are as an ecommerce business extends beyond your website and should include how you take ownership of your whole discoverable presence. I'm not just talking making sure you've claimed and utilized social media profiles but am speaking more about claiming and maintaining your Google Business Profile, and if applicable your knowledge panel. Biggest mistakes - What are ecomm brands usually doing wrong with SEO? #1 mistake: Launching without consulting with a competent SEO or developer with proven SEO chops. It's easier to let the cat out of the bag than to put it back in the bag. Who's getting it right? Scott is a huge fan of REI. Unlike many ecommerce sites, they have a strong brick and mortar presence which contributes significantly to their success. But strictly looking at their ecommerce approach they have put in the work to understand keyword strategy and how people search for product categories, products, and how-to guides.    

When measuring Amazon DSP performance, if all you are looking at is ROAS, impressions, and views, you are not using the full range of metrics available to understand the impact of your spend across the full range of the consumer buying cycle. Kiri Masters, Head of Retail Marketplace Strategy at Acadia, recently published a report outlining 23 Amazon DSP performance metrics to measure, optimize, and communicate the impact of your campaigns, both on- and off-Amazon. Kiri joined the podcast to give us the highlights.

2023 marked Amazon's 9th Prime Day event. Every year, the shopping event breaks its last record and this year was no exception. In this episode, host Kiri Masters breaks down several reasons for the continued winning streak, how Acadia's clients performed this year, winning strategies, and more.You'll learn: The macroeconomic factors the bolstered Prime Day sales results 2023 Why 80% of Acadia's retail marketplaces clients chose to run deals and discounts, compared with 69% and 64% in 2022 and 2021 respectively What happens when you don't run deals, but your competitors do How Amazon advertising delivered better-than-expected returns and what brands did to make the most of this That the Sponsored Brand ad type vastly under-performed in terms of CPCs, and what the Acadia retail media team chose to spend ad budget on instead What glitches occurred this year that affected results (good news here!) If you want to dive deeper into our results and learnings at Acadia, check out Acadia's annual Prime Day recap here, as well as Kiri's 2023 recap on Forbes.

In this episode, Kiri shares 5 reasons why she's bullish on brands scaling their Walmart.com business in 2023.  Advertising capabilities: the move to 2nd price auction in 2022 has made Walmart ROAS much more attractive than in the past. Stratably research showing more brands plan to invest more in WM ads as a % of their WM sales in 2023. “Feature sets” (Walmart's answer to A+ product content)  are back. Premium brands are interested in Walmart.com - recognizing that it's likely a different demographic shopping online than in supercenters. We are seeing more premium/luxury brands at Acadia interested in launching on WM than ever before  Less competition than on Amazon (Some caveats here) Brands have figured out where Amazon goes, making the Walmart.com conversation slightly easier. (Lots of caveats here - but we're moving in the right direction)   Learn more about Acadia's managed services to support brands on Walmart.com.   

The guys sit down and hear from Kiri Masters about her newest report, Fit For Purpose: 23 Next-gen DSP Metrics That Measure What Matter, and the incredible insights found within. As always, Kiri provides interesting ways to look at important metrics like only she can. Listen in now and hear more! The Gorilla in the Room{00:05:13} Kiri found that her clients needed to take a step back and understand what was happening at each stage of the buyer journey based on a better set of metrics that, as her new report is called, are fit for purpose. They really fit for each stage rather than metrics that don't give the full picture{00:09:41} Metrics such as Competitor Audience Acquisition and Review Page View Rate are original metrics discovered by Kiri and her team and are indicators that shed light on whether or not specific campaigns are working for a brand{00:18:51} Whatever used to happen on the brand side with technology is now something that can happen inside of platforms that are actually commerce platforms, but they're actually valuable marketing tools unto themselves now for understanding not just your consumer, but potentially conquesting others, which reorients how we think about Amazon{00:21:16} “All the typical non-retail advertisers are looking to Amazon as well because they have a lot of data about who we are, how we act, and what our interests are.” - Kiri{00:24:58}  With all of these channels and with the complexity of Amazon's DSP that perhaps arbitrage does need a little bit of an update because the definition of what arbitrage means might need a little bit of an update{00:31:11} “We had the paid media wave, the social media wave, and now we're in the retail media wave, and each successive wave had a shorter and shorter ramp up time to be something meaningful. And the ramp up to retail media spend has been the shortest of all.” - Kiri{00:34:34} Are retail media networks overhyped and are these distractions when everyone and their mother is trying to build one right now?Associated Links:Check out Fit For Purpose: 23 Next-gen DSP Metrics That Measure What Matter from Kiri Masters and AcadiaFind out more about The Visions Summit at RICE 2023 and make plans to meet us there!Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world! Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

In this episode, Kiri and Damiano discuss their research, dive deep on two of these new metrics, and what brands can expect from the research launch on March 23. Register for the research here.  Most brands are stuck using basic metrics like ROAS and impressions when it comes to their Amazon DSP campaigns, but these metrics provide a very narrow view of performance. Data within DSP is robust, and brands should be using more sophisticated metrics that are tailored to the stage of the customer purchase journey that they are trying to reach. This will provide a much deeper understanding of their DSP performance. Kiri Masters, head of retail strategy at Acadia, and Damiano Ciarrocchi, retail media manager at Acadia, have spent the past 3 months researching the components of existing Amazon DSP metrics.   

With Amazon's ad revenue now reaching around 10 BILLION a quarter, the discovery, research, and shopping experience on page 1 of search results has been dramatically transformed. But how? Does anyone know, and know what you should do about it? Turns out, yes. Acadia, the digital agency for challenger brands teamed up on a study with Analytic Index on a report called “In it to Win it: How Amazon is pay-to-play for brands, why that matters, and what to do to win”. How could we NOT get Kiri Masters, Head of Retail Strategy at Acadia, on the podcast to talk about it?

What is Infinite Shelf? It represents the humans on one side of the shelf that's being stocked and prepared and the humans on the other side that are buying and participating. Where has Ingrid been over these past few months and why is she back? Listen in as she shares and introduces her new co-host, Kiri Masters.Creating SpaceThere is a human-centric shelf. There is a long dinner table. Human emotion, connection, curiosity, and our need for human connection are important mattersWe need to start normalizing human things in the workplace and check in with our teams to know them well enough to know how they are doing as far as what support they needHow do we balance building a culture and getting to know people beyond just transactional task-oriented conversations, especially when we work remotely?Associated Links:The 10 human traits Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Kiri Masters is the Founder of Bobsled Marketing, a digital agency that helps consumer products brands grow their sales on web marketplaces. In February 2022, Acadia acquired Bobsled, and Kiri is now Head of Retail Marketplace Strategy. Bobsled has been named one of the top 18 Amazon firms by Business Insider and ranks in the Marketplace Pulse Top 100. Kiri is the author or co-author of The Amazon Expansion Plan, Amazon for CMOs, and Instacart CMOs, books that offer an in-depth view of generating predictable results for retail brands. Kiri is also a regular contributor to Forbes Retail, sharing knowledge gathered from managing hundreds of brands' accounts on Amazon. In this episode… The digital marketplace is expanding far beyond just Amazon. Stores like Walmart and Target are transitioning to retail media networks, making it difficult for brands to manage their selling and advertising channels. How can you effectively navigate the digital marketplace and allocate your budget to boost sales? The marketing funnel allows brands to organize and distribute their product ads through each stage of the customer journey. When you shift your focus from each selling channel to your target options for products, you can create a selling strategy that markets your product to the customer. And by assigning ads to each stage based on product needs, you can determine which selling channel is right for you.  In this episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant joins Kiri Masters, Founder of Bobsled Marketing, to discuss creating a selling strategy to navigate retail media networks. Kiri reveals her tips for allocating retail media budgets, a common mistake brands make when trying to scale, and how her business uses Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) to create targeted ads. 

Ross Walker, Senior Advertising Manager at Bobsled, an Acadia Company, joins Kiri Masters on the podcast today to discuss his point of view on seasonal demand for categories and products.

What if everyone is sick of drinking champagne? Retail media is a direct channel to the shopper. It's an attractive audience for brands to reach shoppers, and it's becoming really profitable Brands are currently using two methods to allocate retail media, which makes it very limited, and its harder to get ahead of trends when using one of the two modelsKiri's proposal for the two methods is to get back to the basics of the marketing funnel, “the idea is to identify your objective, and then which part of the marketing funnel you are going to focus on given that objective, and then execute for ad types and targeting options within that stage of the funnel.” - KiriWe are currently living in a world where brand is performance and performance can also be brand“There are a lot of constructs organizationally within these companies that make it very challenging because of the silos. The real goal of each team might be they're working against each other because the metrics and what they're focused on don't really align.” - KiriIt can be profitable for brands to launch in retail media, but there are always downsides. Such as: not having a good enough story to compete against other brands, not being on brand, and convincing advertisers it will be worthwhileAssociated Links:Learn more about Kiri Masters and Bobsled MarketingKiri's most recent report, Retail Media AllocationInstacart for CMOsListen to previous episodes with Kiri!BONUS: Voice Commerce: The Future is HereEpisode 125: Amazon: Equal Opportunity Addiction Episode 148: Uncharted Territory: Amazon and COVID-19Episode 197: Instacart for CMOs: The Four-Sided MarketplaceSubscribe to Kiri's podcast: ECommerce BrainTrustStay tuned for VISIONS 2022…coming soon!Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes! Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceCheck out Decoded, our newest limited seriesHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Chad Crowe, Partner and Head of Operations at Acadia, joins Kiri Masters on the podcast today to recap his takeaways from Google Marketing Live 2022.

Workshopping the launch of a “Brand New Item” LIVE, ON AIR:Gabi is an Amazon guru, and the VP of Amazon Strategy for Garden of Life, a wellness company on a mission to empower extraordinary health“The great thing about Amazon is it is the window into the mass market.” -GabiThere are some perks to selling products on Amazon. Many individuals are typing and searching for products, they're spoiled for choice. While on the other hand, it can be incredibly hard to not just be buried in the search results“Amazon is moving more into this social commerce of building the brands on Amazon, rather than allowing these brands to build their websites on Amazon.” By allowing the brands to build their brand on Amazon, it disrupts the sequence of a consumer leaving Amazon to go learn more from the brands websiteYou don't necessarily need your brand to go viral, you just need to have strong presence on social media “Never get into a level of complacency that you [feel you always] know what's going to happen next.”- GabiThe algorithm is constantly changing, so be willing to change with it “Have the willingness to be open to have your mind changed or have your perspectives changed, and have this collective thinking in conversations.” -GabiAssociated Links:Learn more about Gabi Viljoen and Garden of Life!Amazon for CMOs by Kiri Masters and Mark PowerStay in the loop with Infinite Shelf!  Let us know your thoughts on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook. We love hearing from our listeners!

Kiri Masters, founder and CEO of Bobsled Marketing, joins Tim and Erik to share her research about the four key drivers of Ecommerce profitability and why they are important across the digital shelf. https://www.digitalvelocitypodcast.com/episodes/07-profitability-drivers-in-marketplace-ecommerce-kiri-masters